DeTomaso Mailing List: May 2001, Message #173

-> 1) Change oil every 3000 miles. This belief is due to brilliant
-> adver= tising from the quick-lube industry.

 Not quite true.  Up through the 1960s at least the common oil change
interval was 1000 miles.  Then the Big Three got into "maintenance
wars", stretching the oil change intervals out longer and longer,
eliminating grease fittings on the chassis, etc.  At the very end Ford
was claiming you never had to change the oil in a Ford engine - just
change the filter every 10,000 miles and add a quart.  Ford's warranty
people were unhappy...

 The pendulum has swung back and forth since.  Now many OEMs are calling
for 10 to 12 thousand mile oil changes.  Modern engines run hotter and
are more heavily loaded than old ones, but oils have improved a whole
lot in the last ten to fifteen years.  Still looks the same when you
pour it out of the bottle, but it's *much* better stuff than anything
you could buy in, say, 1975.


 Part of my work as an engine builder is finding parts, which means
tearing down nasty spoogy slimy junkyard cores, cleaning the bits, and
inspecting them.  It is my firm opinion that most cars hit the junkyard
with the same oil they left the factory with.  "Change the oil?  Why?
It's still got some, don't it?"  <sigh>